[dpdk-dev] Is VFIO driver's performance better than IGB_UIO?

[Linhaifeng]

I have test the VFIO driver and IGB_UIO driver by l2fwd for many times. I find that the VFIO driver’s performance is not better than the IGB_UIO.

Is something wrong with my test? My test is as follow:

1.       bind two 82599 ether to VFIO  ./tools/dpdk_nic_bind.py -b vfio-pci 03:00.0 03:00.1

2.       run the l2fwd to watch the stats info.

3.       Bind the 82599 ehter to IGB_UIO  ./tools/dpdk_nic_bind.py -b igb_uio 03:00.0 03:00.1

4.       run the l2fwd to watch the stats info.




The result of test is :（Mpps）
VFIO-64-PHY-PHY

IGBUIO-64-PHY-PHY

VFIO-512-PHY-PHY

IGBUIO-512-PHY-PHY

2.6235456

2.3467793

1.9432854

1.9432753

2.5724822

2.5405128

1.9432777

1.9432832

2.2418318

2.5154781

1.9395376

1.9432291

2.470847

2.551112

1.9432767

1.9432756

2.5092176

2.4965851

1.9432705

1.9432733

2.51572

2.4703292

1.9432637

1.9432669

2.6293656

2.472452

1.9432719

1.943283

2.480364

2.6295004

1.9432775

1.943286

2.4242182

2.613162

1.943268

1.9432663



I have two questions:

1.       If the result is wrong how can I test the VFIO and IGB_UIO

2.       If the result is normal why use VFIO?